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Tom Reed,who previously covered the Blue Jackets for The Dispatch, is back after a five-year absence while working for the newspaper in that city up north: Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter at @treed1919

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Falcons Take Flight As NHL Lockout Boosts AHL

Posted Dec 14, 2012
by Aaron Portzline

There's a different dynamic in the American Hockey League this season because of the NHL lockout. Most AHL clubs have at least two or three players who would be in the NHL if not for the work stoppage, but their two-way contracts allowed them to be sent to the minor-leagues to play during the work stoppage.

"Obviously the top of every roster got better," said Brad Larsen, coach of the Blue Jackets' affiliate in Springfield, Mass.. "But it also pushed two or three guys off the bottom of the roster, too, pushed them out of the lineup or maybe to the (East Coast Hockey League). So this league, which has always been a good league, is now super competitive every night. It's been great."

No team has made better use of the new dynamic than the Springfield Falcons, who are 14-4-1-3 heading into a three-in-three weekend that opens tonight in Providence. The Falcons have the highest winning percentage (.727), the best goal differential (+32 in 22 games), and the best road record (8-1-1) in the AHL. They play fast and furious with the puck, and even nastier without it. Goaltender Curtis McElhinney has been the best story in the league so far, but there are others who deserve headlines.

Yes, Blue Jackets fans, there is good news within the organization. There are Blue Jackets players tasting victory and playing amid a winning culture. Springfield is 718 miles east of Nationwide Arena, and yet it's bubbling just below the surface.

"Losing is the worst feeling in the world," Blue Jackets winger Cam Atkinson said. "But when you're on a team like this ... it's just about the best feeling you can get. You get a certain vibe pretty early on with the right group, with a group of guys who are committed to working hard, playing hard, playing for each other and playing to win. There's just been that kind of feeling since very early in the season, and it's a great feeling coming to the rink every day."

Larsen opened training camp with an eraser in one hand and a hammer in the other. The slate was wiped clean for every player, but along with that came heavy demands and a vow to enforce them.

"One thing we’ve really hammered home here is accountability," said Larsen, who took over after spending two seasons as an assistant under Rob RIley. "It was a little bit too loose around here for a few years. So when we first talked with the guys it was just 'OK, guys, the joke’s over.'

"Right now it doesn’t matter who you are or who you think you are, we’re all in this together, we’re all going to play the same way."

Larsen, a former NHL player who played in the AHL during the 2004-05 lockout, is the first to acknowledge that history is repeating itself. In many ways, an NHL lockout is a dream scenario for an ANHL coach, especially a first-year AHL coach.

The revolving door that messes with an AHL roster daily has stopped spinning. Without the possibility of a call-up, players now have both skates, both eyes and all of their thoughts firmly in Springfield. The animosity that can fester with each roster decision -- "Really? That guy got called up ahead of me?" -- is no longer in play.

"Selfishly, the lockout has been great for us," Larsen said. "We had the ability to run an actual, full training camp. Usually you start camp with 12 guys, and maybe none of them are even on your opening night roster, right? For us, it was a lot of work early, but we could implement structure and systems, get our chemistry ... really try some things in camp, where you don't normally have the luxury.

"Let's be honest: We’re in a league that everybody’s disappointed to be in -- they want to be in the NHL -- so the challenge is to motivate these guys to play as a team. That's not so much of an issue with the current circumstances."

The Blue Jackets have plenty of familar names playing in Springfield: Atkinson, Matt Calvert, Tim Erixon, Ryan Johansen, Tomas Kubalik, John Moore, Dalton Prout, Ryan Russell and David Savard. McElhinney has been the best goaltender in the AHL through the first two months, and would most certainly get a look in a truncated training camp if the NHL lockout does end in time to spare a shortened season.

There are other less-familiar names to Blue Jackets fans who have aided the cause. Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, signed as a free agent this summer, is tied with Atkinson for the team scoring lead. Larsen said first-year pro Sean Collins has been the Falcons' unsung player, filling several different roles. Veteran Ryan Craig, who has bounced from the NHL to AHL with Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh over the last decade, is drawing rave reviews as captain.

"The guy knows what to say," Atkinson said. "And he knows when to say it, and he has the guts to say it. I'm a young guy, I know, but he's the best captain I've ever played for, hands down."

The Blue Jackets' front office has been a regular presence in Springfield. President of hockey operations John Davidson came here shortly after he joined the organization two months ago. "Boy, they've got a good thing going there. A real good thing," Davidson said.

GM Scott Howson and coach Todd Richards have visited, too, something they'd be hard-pressed to do during a season. Assistant GM Chris MacFarland, who handles the AHL roster, has barely missed a weekend this season.

"We've got a lot of guys playing at a high level," MacFarland told The Dispatch last week. "In Brad Larsen and his coaching staff, we have coaches who have set the bar high and pushed the players up to it, and the players have done the pushing, too. They're accountable. It's a real good situation right now."

The work started this summer with Larsen spending many hours with Richards, going over Richards' prefered style of play and how it applied to the Springfield roster. With several offensive/mobile defensemen, the Falcons seemed the perfect fit to play the high-pressure, high-octane system that Richards wants to play.

Then came the hard part -- getting players committed to playing a style that requires much energy, and getting their legs and lungs in shape to execute it. Larsen, a thick man who still appears NHL ready, could barely stay seated as he described the system.

"It’s high energy, and it’s a lot of work as far as tracking pucks," Larsen said. "The energy you want to be spending is in the offensive zone, that’s the key, right?. But now, when you don’t have the puck, we’re asking these guys to work twice as hard to get it back. We’re not asking you to defend, we’re asking you to get the puck back quickly. Pressure, pressure, pressure all over the ice. We’re asking our 'D' to get up with us and be part of a unit of five coming up the ice. Whether you’re part of the play or not, we want you with our group to create that pressure, and maybe you do end up contrinuting offensive.

"It’s not a trap by any means. It’s not sitting back and evaluating. We’re all about pressure. We have speed, we have mobility on the back end. Let's use it. Let's put it to work. I think the players enjoy this style of play. It’s a lot of work, but it’s exciting hockey. It pushes the puck into the offensive zone and creates a lot of chances."

Larsen doesn't carry the hammer with him every day -- he hasn't need to -- but players know its only an arm's reach away.

In a 3-2 shootout loss to Hershey on Nov. 2, Larsen benched Atkinson and Audy-Marchessault for the entire third period after they took "careless, selfish penalties." Even in an eight-round shootout, the club's top two scorers did not take a turn.

"We probably could have won that game," Larsen said. "We probably left a point out there. But I think it was important. I do believe there was a victory within that game for us. And to their credit, Cam and Audy handled it the right way. They were up on the bench cheering for their teammates even though they weren't happy. They responded the very next day just as a coach would want them to respond. It hasn't been an issue since."

This is the third season of the Blue Jackets' affiliation with Springfield. The Falcons went 35-40-2-3 in 2010-11 and 36-34-33 last season, missing the playoffs both seasons. Springfield hasn't tasted the AHL post-season in a decade, one of the longest droughts in the AHL.

If the lockout ends, the Falcons roster would endure a dramatic change. Every roster in the AHL would be gutted, so who knows how the Falcons would fare in the scenario? Right now, nobody seems to care.

The Falcons play in Providence tonight. They host St. John's on Saturday, then play in Manchester, N.H. on Sunday. It could lead to a Happy Holidays, with big plans for the new year.

"This is a great group of guys," Johansen said. "Honestly, I'm not even worried about the lockout. I'm not even thinking about what could be, I'm just really enjoying the present. We've got a good thing going here."

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